Launch: M.N. Stroh’s Rise of Betrayal
INTERVIEW BY LESLIE S. LOWE
M.N. Stroh is fuelled by her love for storytelling and history. She writes Christian Historical Fiction with an edge, to inspire the downtrodden and outcasts through adventure-laden escapes leading them back to their First Love, as showcased in her debut series, Tale of the Clans. M.N. serves as Director of Communications for Serious Writer Inc. affiliate, Writers Chat, director of Serious Writer Book Club, and a member of American Christian Fiction Writers. She is part of the Historical Novel Society Interviews Team.
How would you describe this book and its themes in a couple of sentences?
One brash act forced Nessa to flee her clan. Now, after years hiding in Cashel, she risks exposure to the man whose brother is dead because of her.
What inspired you to start writing and what has been most rewarding about it?
I have always loved a good story. The more tales I learned over the years the more the drive to write my own grew. One of the biggest rewards is having the chance to write the story I’ve wanted to read and discover that God has used it to reach other readers who want these kinds of stories too.
What attracted you to writing historical fiction?
My love of history has existed for just about as long as my love of story. In my mind, the two go hand-in-hand. Yet, for some reason, it never occurred to me to write historical fiction until I began reading the works of Bodie Thoene and Francine Rivers. It was a light-bulb moment. Up to that point, I’d mostly read historical fiction from the general market. They were the first Christian Historical Fiction writers’ whose work truly inspired me. Initially, I played the comparison game and convinced myself that I could never write historical fiction even half as well as them. But God kept prodding me with the passion to try. So I relented and converted my fantasy novel which I began in 2001, into a work of historical fiction. That novel became Rise of Betrayal.
This book is the second in the Tale of the Clans series. How is this one different?
That’s an example of how an author’s plans can be altered by the publisher. You see, Rise of Betrayal was actually supposed to be the first book in the series. The book that precedes it, Man of Sorrows, is a prequel novella which gives some backstory to the main characters in Tale of the Clans whom the reader is introduced to in this novel. When all four of my books in the Tale of the Clans series received their covers, I discovered that the prequel novella was labeled as book 1 instead. So readers who begin with Rise of Betrayal won’t miss anything as far as the continuity of the series. Man of Sorrows can be read separately from the series and adds value to it whether read before or after the rest of the books.
There are four books in the series. Will there be additional books in the series? What are you working on now? Is it connected to this one in any way?
My hope is to publish additional books in the series. I’m working on the next two which sequentially build on the story left off from book 4, Stone of Division. The Tale of the Clans series is a saga set during the lifetime of Brian Boru, who became one of Ireland’s most notorious high kings during what historians refer to as the Viking era. All the main characters in my series are fictional, with historical characters playing secondary roles. So each book builds off the other and, apart from Man of Sorrows, cannot stand alone.
How do the characters transform within the story over the series? What did that journey mean to you as you wrote it?
Tale of the Clans has a huge cast, so it would be difficult to relay how each character transforms throughout the series without going into great detail. But there are repeated themes in the series which many of the characters struggle through. The reader will see them transformed as they wrestle through issues of misplaced trust and how to regain trust after betrayal. The themes of justice versus revenge, and redemption are also strong veins running throughout the series and many of the character’s personal stories. These are all issues I’ve wrestled with at various points in my life, so it was therapeutic to flesh them out through my characters.
Why the focus on this topic now? Is there a key historical event you found in researching that inspired you to write this story to portray a key message prevalent now?
Primarily, I focus on the Middle Ages because I love that era in history and feel that it is often overlooked, especially in Christian fiction. There are so many valuable accounts and lessons to be learned from this vast period and much of them untapped.
How did you balance the research with writing the story? Did you get to do any interesting interviews for your research?
I always try to remind myself that the story takes precedence. Like any historical fiction author, I struggle not to inundate the reader with all the juicy tidbits I discover in research because we always unearth more information than we can practically incorporate.
While I did not have the opportunity to directly interview people in research, I did have the privilege of posing questions by email to certain knowledgeable historians and professors, such as Professor Dáibhí Ó Cróinín of NUI Galway and Dr. Daniel McCarthy, Emeritus of Trinity College, Dublin, who were both gracious in taking the time to help me with key historical events in my novels.
Every author has their own publishing journey. Tell me about yours. What would you do differently?
Mine is a long story that would take pages to tell. Suffice it to say, I officially began in 2001 and had a completed manuscript which I brought to my first writers’ conference in 2003. The experience there taught me I had a long way to go to hone my craft and learn about the publishing industry. So I let my writing grow with me as an author.
I joined various writing groups, made connections, worked on other writing projects, including turning my single novel into a series, and eventually gained my first contract with a literary agent in 2018. I signed my first publication contract in 2019, and as you know, saw my first books published last year.
As for what I’d do differently, I’d try not to let fear hold me back so much. It served as a constant obstacle through those long years.
What is the last great book you read?
A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers.
